Space
🌞 What Is in Space?
Space is everything beyond Earth's atmosphere—a vast, dark area filled with stars, planets, moons, asteroids, and galaxies.
Our home is the Solar System, which is part of a galaxy called the Milky Way.
🪐 What Is a Planet?
A planet is a celestial body (a natural object in space) that:
Orbits a star (like the Sun)
Is large enough to be round from gravity
Has cleared other objects out of its orbit
There are eight planets orbiting the Sun in our Solar System.
🌟 What Is a Star?
A star is a huge, glowing ball of hot gases (mostly hydrogen and helium) that produces its own light and heat through nuclear reactions.
Our Sun is a star☀️ —the one at the center of our Solar System.
🌖 What Is a Natural Satellite?
A natural satellite is a celestial body that orbits a planet.
For example, the Moon 🌕 is Earth’s natural satellite.
🌌 What Is a Galaxy?
A galaxy is a huge group of:
Billions of stars
Planets
Gas and dustAll held together by gravity.
Our galaxy is called the Milky Way.
🪐 What Is the Solar System?
The Solar System is made up of:
The Sun (our star)
8 planets (including Earth)
Moons (natural satellites)
Asteroids, comets, and dwarf planets
All these objects orbit the Sun, which sits at the center of the Solar System.
🗓️ What Is a Year?
A year is the time it takes a planet to make one full orbit around the star.
🌍 For Earth, this takes about 365 days.
🌍 Planets of the Solar System (in order from the Sun):
🌞 Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
👉 Use this sentence to help remember: "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Noodles."
Planet | Fun Fact |
Mercury | Closest to the Sun |
Venus | Hottest planet |
Earth | Only planet known to support life |
Mars | Known as the Red Planet |
Jupiter | Largest planet in our Solar System |
Saturn | Has beautiful rings made of ice and rock |
Uranus | Spins on its side! |
Neptune | Farthest from the Sun and very cold |
🌠 What Is a Light Year?
A light year is the distance that light travels in one year.
It is around 9.46 trillion kilometres. Light moves really fast—about 300,000 km per second!
🌟 Our Nearest Star
After the Sun, the closest star to Earth is Proxima Centauri.
It’s about 4.24 light years away—so even light takes over 4 years to reach us from there!
Top Tips
🪐 Use mnemonics like ““My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Noodles” to remember planet order.
🌞 The Sun is a star, not a planet.
🌌 A galaxy has billions of stars, and there are billions of galaxies in the universe!
🛰️ A natural satellite goes around a planet (like the Moon).
📏 A light year measures distance—how far light can travel in one year.
🌍 Earth is the third planet from the Sun.
🪐 Jupiter is the biggest planet and Saturn has the most beautiful rings.
🌟 Proxima Centauri is the closest star after the Sun.